A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers. H L Mencken, 1880-1956
Law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained. Aaron Burr, American politician
So great is the ascendancy of the Laws of Actions in the infancy of Courts of Justice, that substantive law has at first the look of being gradually secreted in the interstices of procedure; and the early lawyer can only see the law through the envelope of its technical forms. Henry Maine, Dissertations on Early Law and Custom, 1883
The law can take a purse in open court
Whilst it condemns a less delinquent for’t. Samuel Butler, 1612-1680, English poet
You might as well try to employ a boa constrictor as a tape-measure as to go to a lawyer for legal advice. Oliver St John Gogarty, 1878-1957, Irish writer & surgeon
There is not a single law connected with my name which has not had as its object some mitigation of the severity of the criminal law; some prevention of abuse in the exercise of it; or some security for its impartial administration. Robert Peel, speech House of Commons 1st May 1827
I know of no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution. Ulysses S Grant
Laws are silent in times of war. Cicero
The more laws, the less justice. Cicero
The good of the people is the chief law. Cicero
Be ye never so high, the law is above you. Thomas Fuller
Ignorance of the law excuses no man. John Selden, Table Talk, 1689
There is always room at the top. Daniel Webster, on being advised against joining overcrowded legal profession
This is a nation of laws. And as Abraham Lincoln has said, No-one is above the law; no-one is below the law. And we’re going to enforce the law, and Americans should remember that if we’re going to have law and order. Richard Nixon
The Law is the true embodiment
Of everything that’s excellent.
It has no kind of fault or flaw,
And I, my Lords, embody the Law. W S Gilbert, Iolanthe, 1882
What … can be more shameless than for society to make an example of those whom she has goaded to the breach of order, instead of amending her own institutions which, by straining order into tyranny, produced the mischief? William Godwin, 1756-1836, English philosopher & novelist & husband of Mary Wollstonecraft
Johnson observed that, ‘he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.’ James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson
A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge. Samuel Johnson
Who to himself is law, no law doth need,
Offends no law, and is a king indeed. George Chapman, 1559-1634
I am ashamed the law is such an ass. George Chapman
Socrates, he says, breaks the law by corrupting young men and not recognizing the gods that the city recognizes, but some other new deities. Plato, Apologia
The keystone of the rule of law in England has been the independence of judges. It is the only respect in which we make any real separation of powers. Lord Denning
Mrs Weston is clearly liable for damage to the lamp-post. In the civil law if a driver goes off the road on the pavement and injures a pedestrian, or damages property, he is prima facie liable. Likewise if he goes on the wrong side of the road. It is no answer for him to say, ‘I was a learner-driver under instruction. I was doing my best and could not help it.’ The civil law permits no such excuse. It requires of him the same standing of care as any driver. Lord Denning MR, Nettleship v Weston [1971] 2 QB 691 (CA)
Law is a bottomless pit. John Arbuthnot
Forgiveness to the injured does belong;
But they ne’er pardon, who have done the wrong. John Dryden, 1631-1700, The Conquest of Granada
Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive:
The first is law, the last prerogative. John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther
T’abhor the makers, and their laws approve,
Is to hate the traitors and the treason love. ibid.
Nothing is law that is not reason. John Powell, 1765
To break the law of his land – to turn bad news into good news – is the entrepreneur’s prerogative. Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger p38
A long line of cases shows that it is not merely of some importance, but is of fundamental importance, that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. Gordon Hewart, R v Sussex Justices, 9th November 1923
I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we’ve been charged with and automatically throw them out. Sarah Palin
In civilised life, law floats on a sea of ethics. Earl Warren, New York Times 12th November 1962
Of Law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is in the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world: all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power. Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, 1593
I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters. John Keats
The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Not I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me;
And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs.
Their deeds I judge and much condemn,
Yet when did I make laws for them? ...
And since, my soul, we cannot fly
To Saturn nor to Mercury,
Keep we must, if keep we can,
These foreign laws of God and man. A E Housman, Poem IIX
Since Laws were made for ev’ry Degree
To curb Vice in others as well as me,
I wonder we hadn’t better Company,
Upon Tyburn Tree!
But Gold from Law can take out the Sting:
And if rich Men like us were to swing,
Twou’d thin the Land, such number to string
Upon Tyburn Tree. John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera xiv
I know you lawyers can, with ease,
Twist words and meanings as you please;
That language, by your skill made pliant,
Will bend to favour ev’ry client. John Gay, Fables, 1727
The pages of history shine on instances of the jury’s exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge. US v Dougherty 1972
The end of the law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government
Man … hath by nature a power … to preserve his property – that is, his life, liberty, and estate – against the injuries and attempts of other men. ibid.
Man being … by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent. ibid.
The only way by which one divests himself of his natural liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community. ibid.